STORY
Now, if you were to continue searching for innovative winemakers in the heel of the boot beyond Valentina’s wonderful wines, you’d eventually land, as we did, on Tenuta Macchiarola. Founded very recently by a pharmacist turned natural winemaker Nico Mangione, the estate was originally like all the others around here–big, industrial, chemically-farmed, and not that interesting. Nico had gotten talked into following the herd by those in the know, only to realize that he didn’t like the wines, not to mention how his vineyards looked after a few years (read: dead). As such, he ripped off the Band-Aid and committed to making wine using only grape juice and ambient yeast. The results were excellent. Chief among them were his ‘blue wine’, an early harvest Primitivo made to be something between the lightest red and darkest rosé.
HOW TO
Here is yet another crushable iteration of Primitivo the likes of which we wouldn’t have thought possible five years ago. Meant to be drunk chilled and without reserve, it is at its best with sharp cheeses and fatty charcuterie. If you told me a year ago we’d be featuring not one but two glou-glou Puglians made with Primitivo, I’d have thought you were living in another universe. Alas, things are changing for the better. Enjoy!
